Golden Churn – what’s halal and what’s not

JAKIM recently declared that Golden Churn Creamery Butter is not halal in Malaysia.

To me the announcement seemed pretty clear.

Apparently it isn’t as simple as that because the product’s producer Ballantyne Foods Pty Ltd has issued another statement to say that it’s butter is halal.

Confused? I was. And reading news reports of the company’s statement took a little while to digest as well.

As I am not the one in the family who bakes, I always assumed that Golden Churn only came in those giant golden cans.

But apparently you can get the butter in cube form as well.

The tinned stuff is apparently made in New Zealand and the cube stuff is made in Australia. It is the stuff in the tin that was tested by religious authorities and declared to be not halal.

The cube butter is apparently still halal and acceptable for Muslim consumption.

The quote from the company’s statement is as follows:

“We wish to categorically reiterate that the Golden Churn frozen butter that is, the 250 grams salted and 227 grams unsalted cubes manufactured and shipped out of Australia, has been confirmed as halal by Jakim, the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and the Johor Islamic Religious Department.”

Does that clear it up a bit more for you? Let’s hope it is less confusing for our Muslim brothers and sisters.

The company clarified the matter in a statement issued by legal firm Iza Ng Yeoh & Kit Advocates and Solicitors this evening, claiming that Jakim and religious authorities from Sarawak and Johor have also confirmed the product’s halal status.

“We, the Ballantyne Company of Australia, the proud owner of the internationally renowned ‘Golden Churn’ brand of butter for the past 70 years, would like to issue this press statement in order to clear any confusion that may have arisen with regards to the halal status of our product amongst the Muslim community in Malaysia.

“We wish to categorically reiterate that the Golden Churn frozen butter that is, the 250 grams salted and 227 grams unsalted cubes manufactured and shipped out of Australia, has been confirmed as halal by Jakim, the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and the Johor Islamic Religious Department,” the statement read.

The firm also gave its assurance to all Muslim consumers that its products are completely free of any traces of pork DNA and that it has the community’s best interests under consideration at all times.

Last month, the Sarawak religious authorities declared “Golden Churn” butter as non-halal after it was discovered to purportedly contain pig DNA.

Earlier this week, Jakim director general Othman Mustapha reaffirmed the matter, saying the decision was made after discovering that the product comes from the same factory as that distributed in Sarawak although it was brought into the country by different importers.

“This was confirmed by the agent of Ballantyne Food, from New Zealand, which manufactures the product.

“Therefore, Muslims should not use the product,” he was quoted as saying on Bernama Online.

He added that the matter was also confirmed by an agent of Ballantyne Foods from New Zealand and that the company had also agreed to withdraw the product from the shelves.